Best Astronomer Poems
Away from the city, away from the world,
On top of the mountain which sleeps in the cold,
A humble astronomer stares at a star.
How lonesome our planet must seem from afar!
He ponders the spaces of wearisome void,
Celestial empires unknown or destroyed,
Continuous mingling of matter and light.
What frightening pageant for man’s feeble sight!
The whirl of the spheres, the clash of the orbs,
Our universe dictates and calmly absorbs
With eons to spare and inscrutable plan.
How weak and unfit is the power of man!
Find my poems and published poetry volumes at www.eton-langford.com
Astronomer
If the universe created me
to be its cosmic conscience
And all else, I presumed to be,
turned out demonstrable nonsense
What could I say to reconcile
this awfully sickening fact
I'd concede defeat gracefully and,
take it all back
But I'm looking at the darkness
and an ever wheeling sky
knowing my ancestors learned stuff...
like the value of pi
Achieving this state of satisfaction
by the application of science
Coming to this startling conclusion,
and left our myths behind us
For some, the vast majority,
the complex need not be referred
For them the assistance of a deity,
Woo-woo, supernatural and prayer
Kinshala:
to me, you are an artfull inspiration
the first (from many) of whom
to attract such gravitation,
I feel the stars....they beckon me
when I hear footfalls
of You Kinshala, the heavens
are brighter than they
used to be...
as hours melt into seconds....
we talk like learning lessons....
and now laying
awake
with one singular thought of you
I wish now that
I had kissed
your silken lips while
the chance had
made its due
and for our convergence to have made semblance known
for being with Kinshala for only hours,
I have grown...
When I saw the learned
Astronomer
Chasing stars from his clumsy steeple
I heard the fate of
Andromeda
in the curse of a thousand people
Fallen! Broken! Praise be
Damned!
The star has flown and will never
land!
There was an astronomer "Peeping Lars".
Who used his telescope for more than stars.
He stared at Mrs. Claire's
derriere and bare pair.
Got caught, now Lars star gazes behind bars.
1/3/19
There was an astronomer called Kurt
Had star patterns all over his shirt
Discovered a new planet
Named it after wife Janet
But then on his lens found it was dirt.
Disappointed he hit the town’s bars
Tried crossing the road dodging the cars
But then he ran out of luck
Kurt got flattened by a truck
Now he is up there amongst the stars.
Written on 4th January 2019
For Limerick contest sponsored by Joseph May.
( Character chosen astronomer.)
Once there was an astronomer named Boone.
Claimed he saw a cow jump over the moon!
That could not be verified.
Boone was later certified,
Poor man, to be wackier than a loon!
(Just for fun - not for contests)
Stone steps
To the top of the tower -
At least a hundred -
In a spiral staircase;
Regularly spaced,
Worn by many feet
And time,
Yet as strong as the day
They were quarried
Out of local granite.
Taking the polished brass
Handrail, I started to climb;
Eventually,
Stopping midway
To catch my breath,
And massage my aching calves.
Reaching the telescope at last, I
Smiled and gazed up at the starry sky.
Jack Horne for Linda-Marie’s contest
Most astronomers gaze up at the stars
But Freddy took pretty women to bars --
He'd get in big brawls
Crash into brick walls --
When he came to, he'd have sworn he saw Mars
THE ASTRONOMER’S RETURN
An astronomer tetchy but famous
When his theories were placed in question
Returned this contortive suggestion
“Why don’t you go gaze at Uranus!”
An absolutely truthful account... (strangely, including the contest’s mandatory ’*’)
Twas something like nineteen seventy seven
I saw a guy on a bridge gazing at heaven...
I was sat fishing, set up for the night
The night that that fella would give me a fright
A full moon aglow in an ebony sky
Permitted the sight of that very strange guy
He wore a top hat, and I’m no historian
But his wrist length cape seemed very Victorian
He had a short telescope held to his eye
And his head was turned up to that cloudless night sky
I could only think with his top hatted head
*He looked like he’d crept from the house of the dead*
What he was watching with hat and cape on
I’ll never know for soon he was gone
I didn’t see him come and I didn’t see him leave
He was there, then he wasn’t, this I believe
I’m not a proclaimer of ghosts, ghouls and spirits
Or in the concept of afterlife visits
But I checked-out that bridge right through the night
Packed up and went home at very first light.
______
I was about eighteen, night fishing alone on a canal ten miles north of London. My favourite swim (fishing position) was about a hundred yards (ninety metres) from a footbridge over the canal. That bridge was peculiar in that no-one I knew, knew why it was there. It was at least two miles from a road or pavement/sidewalk and aside from crossing the canal... it went nowhere.
It was now dark and ‘something’ caused me to look toward the bridge. He was just there... perfect silhouette, wearing a cape and top hat and gazing skyward through a telescope. I became aware of my rod thumping round to the right... I should point out that, at eighteen, landing a big fish took precedence over watching some weirdo pretending to be a ghost (you might say I was not a believer) so I landed the fish (a smashing Tench), returned him and glanced back to the weirdo. The weirdo was gone and I spent the rest of the night alone, under my fishing umbrella, pondering his whereabouts.
12 February 2021
Contest: Ghost
Sponsor: Julia Ward
There once was a handsome astronomer
Though he tried he couldn't be any stranger
For every solar eclipse
He'd do a couple of flips
In his tutu he was quite the number
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on February 28, 2019 for contest WHAT I LIKE sponsored by MAUREEN McGREAVY
and on January 4, 2019 for LIMERICKS POETRY CONTEST sponsored by JOSEPH MAY
I am no great astronomer, I am
By no means a seer
But the stars sparkle in time with
The beat of my heart
And shooting stars come out
Every night
Full moon or no moon
My darkness has faded
A blanket removed from my soul
Breath moves the clouds away
So clear the night sky
Passes down
Holding me to the Earth so close
Keeping me floating with you
Watching through open eyes
Peering through telescopes
Seeing a world beyond, so full
Of life and light
Keep your eye on the sky
I will follow you anywhere